Digital Doctor
by Professional Protagonist
Summary: The Doctor, Amy, and Rory discover a unique and unusual time energy signature and head out to investigate! Four junior high students spend their time in a virtual world battling an evil A.I., and whenever too much damage is done, they turn back the clock. What strange adventures await the Lyoko Warriors and the Who Crew?
1. PrologueTeaser

_Paris, France. Current Day._

A young boy sits at his chair, typing away at his computer. Though ordinary in appearance, with his small frame, light skin, short blond hair, and round black glasses, he, and his computer for that matter, are nothing short of extraordinary. His fingers dance across the keys at a rate unmatched even by most professionals, and the complexity of his coding is unparalleled.

The boy squints his eyes expectantly and adjusts his glasses as he stares at the screen. With his right hand, he fiddles a moment with an earpiece before speaking into the attached microphone.

"Alright guys, the tower should be just up ahead. We're almost done here, and good thing too. Jim's almost broken down the door." He speaks with a somewhat low-pitched, slightly nasally voice and glances back behind his seat. A large metal door is closed just a few meters away, but it is severely dented. The metal continues to bend, punctuated by a pounding noise. Whatever is on the other side of that door, it's big.

Meanwhile, another event takes place. Though it is within the same building as the young computer genius, it might as well have been thousands of miles away. The land is a strange forest, floating high above a sea of ones and zeros. Trees, all identical, dot the landscape and extend from the sea to high above the forest ground. Four figures stand below a large, white tower, which was glowing an ominous red aura. Four youths, much like the young man at the computer, only far stranger.

"Don't sweat it, Einstein," spoke the first youth, a young man with a lithe body, paws, a tail, and cat ears. "We already made it. Those monsters were a piece of cake! Mmm, that reminds me, we haven't had lunch today yet!"

"Odd, you already ate two helpings of breakfast, and you grabbed a to-go box of Chinese on the way to the factory. Can't you think about food after we've deactivated the tower and saved Jeremie?" complained the second youth, a Japanese girl a little older than the rest. She wore a dark purple outfit, brandishing two handheld fans, while her shoulder length black hair was parted by two clips.

"I'm with Odd on this one, Yumi," chimed in the second boy. He wore a tan samurai's robe with a matched headband. He held a sword in each hand, and sheathed them on his back as he spoke. "The door will hold just fine, as long as Aelita gets in that tower and deactivates it."

The final youth, a girl with pink hair, a matching pink outfit, and elven-like ears, smiled, nodded, and ran forward toward the tower. Rather than crashing into the solid wall, she seemed to melt right through it. Inside, the tower was bigger than it looked on the outside. Aelita ran across the thin walkway to the central platform, then began to levitate straight upward. With a little grace, she landed atop another platform, nearly identical to the first, but much higher up. A screen was floating in the air, waiting for her to access it. She placed her hand on the screen, which scanned her palm, identifying her. A second later, two words flashed across the screen: CODE LYOKO.

"Tower deactivated," the girl said, with a sly smile. Immediately the outside of the tower changed. The red aura vanished, replaced by a white one instead.

Back in the computer room, Jeremie alternated his gaze between the computer monitor and the continually weakening door. Finally, what he had feared came to pass. The metal tore open and the figure of a large, slightly overweight man stepped forward. He wore gym shorts, a red shirt, and a white headband just below the line of his short brown hair. The man growled in an unearthly tone as Jeremie's eyes focused on his. Instead of pupils, he had a strange insignia of an eye with three on the bottom and one on top.

Then nothing. The insignia faded from the man's eyes and he looked around, confused, exhausted, before falling over into a big flump. Jeremie wiped the sweat from his brow with a heavy sigh, then turned back to his keyboard.

"That was a close one. Unfortunately, Jim caused quite a ruckus in town, so you know what that means." Jeremie went typing away at the speed of light, before resting his index finger on the enter key.

"Return to the past now." Click. A white light began to well up inside of the large computer. A second later, it erupted and spread out across the landscape, engulfing everything. First the computer chamber, then the old factory housing it. The light swept across the suburb, then Paris, France, Europe, the earth, and finally into space…

Deep in space floated a most unusual object: an old English police phone box. Inside it was even more unusual, as though it contained the space of a mansion, which in truth, it did, if that is how much space the owner wanted it to have at the time.

The first chamber contained what looked like some sort of piston or engine, held within a glass case and surrounded by a circular console absolutely saturated with strange buttons, knobs, dials, and levers. Standing around this chamber were three individuals, two men and a woman.

"So where are we headed to next?" asked the woman with a Scottish accent. Her hair was long and red, and she had full lips that complimented her eyes well. The second man, the one she hadn't spoken to, just sat off to the side and let his wife ask their companion.

"Oh, marvelous question, Pond!" chimed the third member of the ensemble, as he clapped his hands together as though he were a professor excited to be giving a lecture to his students. In many ways, he would have resembled an old professor, had he not looked to be such a young man. His face was long with a pronounced chin, his brown hair kept tidy with a bit of fringe, and he wore a tweed jacket he insisted on calling stylish. Of course, he could never go anywhere without his special bowtie. Bowties, after all, are cool.

"We'll be heading to the Polaranya system next, circa 1846 your time. They have an absolutely splendid natural goldfall, ah, that'd be like a waterfall but with molten gold, you see, that I've just been dying to view with my own eyes!" The man looked quite proud if himself with his charming smile as he began fiddling with the instruments across the console.

"So where are we headed to next?" asked the woman with a Scottish accent. Her husband just sat off to the side, letting her speak to their companion.

"I've just told you, Pond. I swear, do all humans have such terrible memories? Wait… Wait a moment." The man stood up with a quizzical look upon his face. His two companions just looked from him to one another, obviously quite confused. The man in the bowtie licked his right index finger and held it up, as though feeling some strange sensation in the air.

"Oh. Oh now that is interesting." He went to work on the console again, twisting knobs and pressing buttons.

"What's interesting?" asked the second man, a bloke with a pronounced nose and an English accent. He observed his companion's hands practically crawl over the various instruments. He was pretty sure half of them didn't actually do anything, but he made no further comment.

"Ask me again, Amy," the man in the bowtie said to the woman.

"Ok. Doctor, where are we going next?" She blinked awkwardly.

"Third time is the charm!" the Doctor shouted, spinning around to face his companions. "Amy, Rory, we're heading for France. Your time."

_And so ends the teaser for the first chapter of this new series. What exciting adventures await us? Prepare for the__ Digital Doctor!_

_If you would like to see more of this series, please give feedback. I have a lot of big plans, but I don't know if this will pan out just yet, hence only a teaser instead of a full chapter.  
_


	2. Chapter 1: Doctor Doctor?

Chapter 1: Doctor Doctor?

The man called the Doctor ran about the console surrounding the engine, messing with all manner of switches, levers, and knobs. All around them, a strange moaning, grinding sound told them that everything was working exactly as it should. The floors shook, causing Amy and Rory to stumble and grab hold of the railing for support, but the Doctor had been through this dance countless times before, and would do so countless times more. He skipped from control to control, completely unfazed.

After many moments, the room ceased to shake, and the grinding, moaning noise stopped. Amy and Rory picked themselves up and regained their composure, having been through this many times before as well.

"Right then! Paris, France, 2004! Ok, so maybe not [i]quite[/i] your time, but you get the idea, right Ponds?" The Doctor strolled over to the front doors and opened them up, preparing to take a step outside. With a bit of shock, he flailed a bit, almost losing his balance, before throwing himself back inside and shutting the doors.

"Doctor? What's wrong?" Amy asked. The Doctor stood up, straightening his jacket and bow tie, then smiled.

"Poor parking job. I'll need to move us. Say, you don't think we'll be towed for being on top of the Eiffel Tower, do you?" The Doctor shot his companions a quizzical look before jaunting over to the controls and repositioning them.

"There we are!" he shouted with a little jingle in his voice. This time when he threw the doors open, it was not a thousand foot drop that greeted the group, but a small suburban street.

Stepping out of the blue police box, the three glanced around to get a good idea of their environment. They had apparently landed at the edge of an alley, next to a large fence. The street went on either direction for a good distance, but the first thing the three noticed was that standing on the other side of the fence was a series of large buildings, all one great big property.

"Right, we'll be needing this little toy," the Doctor mused, pulling out a device that strongly resembled a video camera duct taped to a toaster. Amy and Rory looked at the man incredulously, but he simply smiled and hefted the device up for them to get a better look at.

"It's my new and improved timey-wimey detector! You see, my last one would go 'ding' when there's timey wimey stuff, right? But this baby here has different dings for different stuff! Plus, it can toast bread too! That was a planned feature, not a side effect, I assure you."

The Doctor went to work pointing his "timey-wimey" detector all around them as Amy chuckled to herself and Rory just rolled his eyes. Several passers-by stared awkwardly at the strange man with his even stranger device, but said nothing.

_Ding ding ding ding_ went the machine, as a group of five teenagers wandered by. They were quite a colorful bunch. A short nerdy looking boy, likely the youngest, in a blue sweatshirt and glasses. A very tall Asian girl dressed in all black. A brown haired stern looking boy with his hands constantly in his pockets. A girl with bright, pink hair and matching clothes. A short, energetic boy with gaudy purple clothes and hair that looked like it belonged in some sort of anime. They strolled around the corner and through the gate to the large property next to the Doctor, Amy, and Rory.

"You see!" cried the Doctor, slinging his timey-wimey detector over his shoulder with an energetic jump into the air.

"But Doctor, you still haven't told us what we're looking for! What is it?" Amy asked, stepping closer to her friend. Rory nodded, keeping the group of teenagers in his eyesight until he lost them around the corner. The Doctor turned round and began one of his famous explanations.

"Hmm, how to explain this? You see, Pond, back on the TARDIS, I detected something very strange when you asked me the same question twice, after I'd just answered you. It's called a Temporal Perception Field, like time travel, only not." The Doctor began to use a variety of hand gestures to accompany his explanation.

"Imagine a sort of wall of energy. It's not a wall, but imagine it anyway. This wall extends outward through space, encompassing everything until-"

"Doctor?" interrupted Rory.

"Oh what is it, Rory? I'm in the middle of explaining advanced temporal physics!" The Doctor turned toward Rory, throwing his hands up like a child giving a tantrum.

"Are those kids and this Temporal Perception Field really important?" he asked.

"Yes, of course, Rory. End of the world important. Destruction of the universe important. Why do ask?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow.

"Well then why don't we go after them and leave the explanations for later?" Rory gestured toward the large property the kids had entered mere moments ago. The Doctor stood quiet for a moment, staring at the man. He opened his mouth and let it hang for just the briefest of moments before finally realizing that he'd already lost the kids when he went into "professor mode." The Doctor frantically dashed forward, Amy and Rory following close behind.

The three rounded the corner and went straight for the gates. They had mere feet ahead of them, nearly there, when suddenly the gates shut with a mighty jingle-jangle. Amy and Rory stopped just short of the gate, but the Doctor on the other hand, he ran straight into the iron bars.

"Oomf!" he grunted, bouncing back and standing up. Rubbing his nose, he said, "Well, that wasn't too much fun."

"Hey buddy, are you ok?" asked a particularly gruff voice from the other side of the gate. The group looked over to see the man that had closed the gate, a particularly large, slightly overweight man, he wore athletic clothing and had a band-aid on his cheek. "I can take a look at that if you like. I used to be a registered nurse, you know."

Rory's ears perked up a bit, being a nurse himself, and he addressed the large man. "You used to be a nurse?"

"Yeah, well I'd… Rather not talk about it." The man hung his head down a moment and started at the sidewalk as his mind drifted elsewhere. "Anyway, name's Jim Morales. Can I help you with anything?"

"What is this place, exactly?" Amy asked, stepping forward. She looked Jim over and Jim blushed, rubbing the back of his head nervously. Rory sighed as he watched his wife and Jim.

"Uh, well this is Kadic Academy, of course. I take it you're… Not from around here, are you?" Jim looked over the three, but was especially focused on the strange man in tweed jacket, rubbing his nose.

"Ah, a school, yes!" The Doctor composed himself, straightening his jacket and his hair fringe. "May we enter, then?"

"What are you, kidding me?" Jim retorted, spitting a little. "We're closed! The students are heading to bed! Nobody gets in after hours, especially not any nobodies that are strangers. That's what this gate here is for and that's why I locked it. Locks are important. It's like closing the door to your chicken coop so you don't get any wolves inside. Because once the wolves get in the chicken coop, they start reading the chickens' diaries and watching them sleep, and… Uh… Where was I? Yeah, so nobody gets in the school after hours."

Rory stared at Jim with both his eyebrows raised. The Doctor's eyes shifted back and forth as he was lost in thought, his open mouth pressed to one side of his face. Amy's brow was furrowed as she listened to Jim, nodding along the entire way until the man had finished rambling.

"Doctor, his analogies are worse than yours!" she laughed.

"I thought that one was pretty good," Jim murmured with a sad look.

"Actually, I quite liked it," The Doctor said, his eyes lighting up. "It was very cool. You're cool, Jim."

"Heh. Jee, thanks." Jim smiled widely, regaining his lost composure, while Rory simply shook his head. "But you're still not getting in."

"Of course, of course," The Doctor nodded, turning back. He waved at Jim as Amy and Rory followed. Once they were out of earshot, Amy was the first to break silence.

"So what's the plan, Doctor? We wait until all the lights go out, then we sneak in with the sonic screwdriver?" A wide smile crept across her face as her mind played the scenario out.

"The plan, Pond, is that we come back in the morning when the school is open." The Doctor grinned as they continued their stroll forward. "I have a plan that won't get us into any trouble. Most likely. In all probability."

"You're going to show off, aren't you?" Rory asked. The Doctor just gave him a knowing smile as he opened the door of the TARDIS.

"So then I said, 'Banana? More like BaXana! Haha!" The short boy, Odd, joked as the group crossed the school yard. They passed by Jim as he headed out to close and lock up the gates for the night, having already said goodbye to Yumi earlier.

"We know, Odd. We were there. And it wasn't funny the first time either." Ulrich practically groaned the words and shook his head. Aelita chuckled to herself while Jeremie just rolled his eyes.

"Well you guys are just no fun. And here I thought that was comedy GOLD! Some friends you are!" Odd scowled at them, but it was obviously all in good fun.

"The only thing golden about you, Odd, is that trophy you deserve for worst smelling feet." Ulrich shot out. Odd looked like he'd just been shot.

"Melted down, I bet a trophy like that could supply the necessary wiring for over a dozen super computers," Jeremie chided. Odd just turned his nose up at the group before they came to a stop in the hallways.

"Alright everyone, see you in the morning!" Aelita cheerfully exclaimed, with a great big wave and smile. She headed up the stairs to the girls dormitories. Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremie each waved goodbye in turn before heading down the hall. When they reached Jeremie's room, he waved goodbye to Odd and Ulrich, then took a seat in front of his computer by the window. A moment later, the last two reached their own dorm room. Ulrich pulled out his key, unlocked the door, and the two went in.

Odd immediately ran over to his bed and pulled out the drawers beneath it, releasing a small dog. The dog, wagging its tail excitedly, jumped up into Odd's waiting arms, assaulting the boy's face with his tongue.

"Ah, hahaha, down Kiwi, down!" cried Odd, now lying back on his bed. Ulrich smiled awkwardly at the two before sitting on his own bed, slipping off his shoes, and kicking back.

"I love my diggity-dog!" Odd was strewn out, keeping his head elevated with one arm while he pet a now curled up Kiwi with the other. "Did you miss me, boy? Yes you did. Hahahaha!"

"Hey Odd?" Ulrich asked, staring up at the ceiling. He propped his head up with both hands and kept one leg bent up at the knee. His eyes looked far away, lost in thought.

"Yeah Ulrich?"

"Don't you think XANA's attacks are getting a little… I don't know. Too easy? It's like he's not even trying anymore."

"I know what you mean." Odd nodded, expressing only a serious understanding. Such a thing was incredibly rare for the hyper, silly boy. It was a bit unnerving for Ulrich to see his friend act that way.

"What do you think it means?" Ulrich shifted himself so that he could see Odd, who was now living up to his namesake by letting gravity take off his shirt as he performed a headstand atop his bed.

"Well, I think it's obvious, Ulrich. XANA's giving up! He's finally realized that there's just no beating us. Yup!"

Well, that sure lasted long, Ulrich thought. Even Kiwi seemed to have a hard time swallowing that logic, judging by how he sneezed and shook his head. Ulrich just rolled his eyes and started preparing himself for bed, like his friend.

Jeremie sat in a dark room, illuminated only by the multiple computer monitors he was working at. His fingers shot across the keys expertly. Pausing for a moment, the boy looked at the data displayed on screen. He couldn't make much sense of it, which was infuriating, especially considering how unbelievably intelligent he was. No doubt if his friends saw him like this, they'd insist he put it down and get some sleep, but that wasn't the way Jeremie worked. Once he was set on a problem, he attacked it stubbornly, with single-minded determination, until he had it cracked. This time, however, he felt that he would need some help.

A sudden knock at the door startled the young boy. His heart skipped a beat and he jumped in his seat. When the door began to open, he quickly moved to cover up the information on his monitors, but he was relieved to see that it was Aelita coming in. Jeremie sat back down and focused once more.

"Hey there, Aelita. I hope you didn't let anyone see you come in here. You know Jim would have a fit." He joked. True enough, Jim would not approve of a girl visiting the boy's dormitories after hours, but there was hardly any student that would tell on them. Well, maybe Sissi, but only if she were feeling particularly vindictive that day.

Aelita moved in closer and sat next to Jeremie. Her presence and her smile immediately warmed his heart. Her voice was as comforting as an angel's song. It filled him with confidence.

"I figured you'd be working on this," she said, hanging off of his shoulder. Aelita took a look at the coding that ran down his screens. She recognized it. After all, she was the one to recover it, the last time the group had been virtualized and sent to Lyoko. Still, she couldn't make much sense of it herself.

"Of course," Jeremie replied, rather proud of his never ending vigilance. "I can't seem to make any sense of this code. It came from the deepest core of the super computer, but it doesn't seem to operate on any of the same systems or languages as everything else we've encountered before. It's so strange, almost… Alien."

"You don't have to explain that to me, Jeremie. I'm not Odd." Aelita feigned being offended. It was a joke, and Jeremie thought it was cute enough. She could tell by the little he blushed.

"I didn't come down here just to help you with this, you know. I had other things on my mind, too." She nudged his shoulder just a bit. Jeremie turned to face her, taking his eyes away from the coding for the first time since Aelita had entered his room.

"What's that?"

"You should know. I think everyone feels it. XANAs latest attacks are… Too easy. It's like he's trying to distract us from something much bigger." Aelita's eyes were showed an absolute seriousness. She knew the horror XANA was capable of better than anyone else.

"I agree," Jeremie nodded. "Last year I would have assumed that this was a ploy by XANA to get us to abuse the return to the past so he could keep getting stronger, but since he's escaped into the Net… I don't like it one bit."

The two continued their conversation for nearly two hours. In that time, they made many speculations, and tried to crack the code together, but they couldn't get close to the answer for either. Eventually, they agreed that they should get some sleep and tackle these problems from a new angle in the morning.

It was lunch time at Kadic Academy. A group of five youths sat together at their usual table. Jeremie, Odd, Ulrich, and Aelita welcomed Yumi as she sat her tray down and took her seat.

"So what do you guys think of the new lunch lady, huh?" she asked the group, dipping a fry into some ketchup. "I think she's really nice, and pretty too."

"Bah, shows what you know," Odd scoffed, pointing to his tray, which had only marginally more food on it than the rest of them. "She's so mean that she would deny a growing boy like me my second and third helpings! And she called me small! I'm not small, I'm-"

"Svelte, we know," interrupted Ulrich.

"Right. Point is, where is Rosa? She's really nice and she understands that I'm a growing boy that needs a lot of nourishment. We don't need this lunch lady poser, we deserve the real deal! There should be a protest! Picket signs and rioting in the streets! Who's with me?!" Odd took a dramatic stand with one foot on his chair, one on the table, and his fork held high. Had it not been over something so petty, he might have been a little inspiring.

"Sit down, Odd. You're making a fool of yourself." Yumi shook her head and Ulrich pulled Odd down by the sleeve. The boy grumbled as he dug into his food, which all seemed to vanish in seconds.

Twenty minutes later, the bell rang and it was time for classes. The group said goodbye to Yumi again as she headed to her history class. Meanwhile, Ulrich, Odd, Jeremie, and Aelita took off for science with Ms. Hertz.

"You shouldn't be all gloomy, Ulrich. You'll get to see Yumi again after class, big boy!" Odd said, half-joking, half-serious. Jeremie smiled and Aelita chuckled at her friend's antics. Ulrich was not so amused.

"What are you talking about, Odd? How many times do I have to tell you that there is absolutely nothing going on between Yumi and me? We're just good friends, that's all." Ulrich had to admit, saying the words himself really stung.

"Riiiiiiiight, whatever you say, Romeo." Odd gave his friend a slap on the back and hurried ahead of the group, walking backwards toward class so he could face them all. "Just one little science class with Ms. Hertz, and the gang will be back together again, right? We have any missions today, Einstein?"

Jeremie shook his head at Odd. "Not today, sorry. Not unless XANA attacks. I'm still trying to make sense of that code Aelita got the last time you all went to the Net."

"Aaaaw maaan! I guess I'll just have to find some other way of curing my boredom today. I already know what's going to get me through Ms. Hertz's class. A nice nap!"

The group turned and entered Ms. Hertz's science lab, but they did not see Ms. Hertz inside. Instead there was a man sitting at her desk, a most peculiar man. He wore a tweed jacket and red bow tie, with his hair parted with a fringe. He sat with both legs crossed up on the desk and read through some papers, most likely the class curriculum, with a pair of thin glasses. Once the class had entered, the young man stood up and addressed them all.

"Good day, students. Ms. Hertz won't be here for the foreseeable future, on account of having won a cruise through the Mediterranean. I'm your substitute teacher, Doctor John Smith. But you can just call me Doctor." The Doctor gave a cheery wink at the class and his mouth curled up into the most child-like smile one could imagine.


	3. Chapter 2: A Substitute from Reality

Chapter 2: A Substitute from Reality

Well this was unexpected. The kids couldn't think of a single time that Ms. Hertz had ever missed a class. She was the senior staff member, and seemed completely devoted to her job here at Kadic Academy. What's more, this Doctor John Smith character as their substitute? They'd never seen him on campus before, could he really work here?

"Excuse me," asked a young boy with a green sweater, glasses, and a large number of pimples as he raised his hand.

"Yes, you, pizza face, what is it?" The Doctor responded, pointing with an underhanded finger. A good number of the students began to crack up a bit, much to the boy's chagrin. He could practically hear his own teeth grinding.

"It's Herb, sir," the boy retorted, the annoyance clear in his voice.

"Yes? Speak up, Herb, what is it?" The Doctor lifted up his thin glasses, readjusting them slightly, while looking fairly bored, as though there were other things on his mind that he would rather be doing.

"If you don't mind me asking, sir, I've never seen you on campus. If you're really a substitute teacher, why haven't I seen you teaching any other classes?" Herb's frustration began to disappear, replaced instead by earnest curiosity. He adjusted the collar of his sweater, perhaps a bit nervous to be questioning his new teacher in such a way. The other students waited patiently for the Doctor's answer.

"Hey, I hate to say it, but Herb's got a point, guys," Odd whispered to Jeremie and Ulrich in a manner he thought to be discrete (it really wasn't). Ulrich narrowed his eyes and nodded, while Jeremie stared at The Doctor blankly.

"Gooooooood question, Herb! You're not half as goofy as you look!" The Doctor smiled and dramatically tore the thin glasses from his face, tossing them casually toward Herb, who barely reacted in time to catch them, fumbling the frames through his hands for a few seconds. "It seems that your primary science teacher, Ms. Hertz, is so dedicated to her job and students here that she's never missed a day! Commendable determination if I do say so myself. She's so dependable, that principal Delmas never had to keep a substitute with science specialty on retainer. So naturally, when Ms. Hertz won her vacation, your principal had to call someone in from the outside, and here! I! Am!"

The Doctor threw his arms up dramatically as he shouted those final words for emphasis. Aelita chuckled politely to herself, hand in front of her mouth, but everyone else stared blankly. This man, he wasn't honestly a teacher, was he? He was more like a clown!

"Now, take your seats, class. The Doctor has much to teach you today. Now now, don't be shy, sit down. I'm just looking over the curriculum one last time before we get started."

The students began taking their seats as instructed, all of them thoroughly confused, but at least entertained by this substitute teacher's antics. Herb absent-mindedly fiddled with the glasses he had been given, sitting next to a good looking girl with long, black hair, and another boy with short blonde hair, gym shorts, and a clueless expression practically painted over his face. Ulrich and Odd sat next to one another near the window, with Jeremie and Aelita at the desks directly in front of them. Jeremie slipped his laptop on his lap, barely cracked open and hidden from sight by the desk, as he usually did as a precaution in case of an attack by X.A.N.A.

"Maybe this will be worth staying awake for, huh? He seems really fun. What do you think, Ulrich?" Odd asked his friend and roommate. Ulrich's response was less than enthusiastic, merely shrugging with a raised eyebrow and staring out the window with his chin resting on his hand.

"I don't know. He seems weird, but school is still school, you know?" The boy's eyes glazed over as he saw the football field and his mind began to drift to memories of his favorite games and all the goals he scored.

Ulrich, and any other daydreamers for that matter, found himself wrenched from his own private world as papers were tossed up into the air and came raining down across the room, scattered and disorganized. The Doctor had thrown the class curriculum notes wantonly through the air! Reactions across the room were quite varied, from Ulrich's dull surprise to Aelita and Herb's confusion to Jeremie's pained shock to Odd's cheer.

"Ugh, so boring. I can't possibly teach you kids about these theoretical space physics. It's all wrong and practically fiction! Tell you what, students, we're going to disregard the lesson plans and do things that are much cooler. What do you think?" The Doctor gave the class a wink just as the last piece of paper settled itself on the floor, somewhere between Odd's chair and the room's clock.

The blonde boy next to Herb raised his hand. "You there, number eight," The doctor said, referring to the numeral on the boy's blue t-shirt.

"Um, but if we do that, then what happens when Ms. Hertz comes back? Won't we be behind?" the boy queried, in a low, dull voice.

"Wow, I never thought I'd say this, but Nicholas has a point!" Ulrich whispered to Odd, who nodded in response, actually quite impressed by the usually simple boy's insight.

"Oh, I don't think we have to worry about that now, my dear boy," the Doctor replied, rather offhandedly. The class went quiet, expecting him to carry on, but he never did.

"What? Is there something on my face?" their teacher asked, showing confusion himself. He began wiping himself with his hands frantically. "Did I get it?"

"Uh, Professor Smith?" the long haired girl between Herb and Nicholas asked, raising her hand.

"Just Doctor, deary. And yes?" The Doctor leaned forward over his desk, staring right into the girl's eyes. It made her a bit nervous, but she carried on as normal.

"Um, is there any reason why we don't have to worry about that?" She held her hand open, expressing her confusion. The Doctor leaned back to his previous position and shrugged her off.

"We just don't. Any other questions before we begin?" The girl looked offended at being brushed aside like this.

"I like to see Sissi take her lumps as much as anyone else," Aelita began, speaking with Jeremie. "But her and Nicholas are right. This teacher is being pretty rude to them."

The Doctor stood in one spot, eyeing the entire classroom from front to back, and side to side, making eye contact with each and every single student. However, when his gaze came upon the four Lyoko Warriors, it was different. He stared at each of them for just a fraction of a second longer, and his eyes switched from cheery and childish to serious, almost deadly. The four took notice, all too aware.

"Right then! Let's begin the lesson, shall we?" The Doctor clapped his hands together and suddenly his cheery, enthusiastic demeanor returned in full swing. He placed his hand within the inside of his tweed jacket, fishing around for a moment while making silly faces, before finally producing a small object. It looked like a rod with a small green light at the tip.

"Today, we'll be experimenting with the unique effects of sound waves! Now who can tell me what this device is?" he asked, waving it around for the entirety of the class to see and get a good look at.

"Ee-uh, it looks like a really fancy flashlight," Nicholas commented.

"It looks like a magic wand, to me," Odd retorted. His friends sighed in exasperation while he gave a Cheshire grin. The Doctor pointed the device at Odd, acknowledging his participation.

"Your hypothesis isn't a poor analogy. Actually, scratch that. It's nothing like a magic wand. Terrible metaphor. This, children, is called a sonic screwdriver!"

Odd's smile faded, but only a tiny bit. Ulrich and Aelita stared at the man as though he were insane. However, Sissi was the one to voice her opinion first.

"A sonic _screwdriver_? Are you playing games with us or something?! I'll have you know I can have my daddy fire you for wasting school time and money!" She crossed her arms defiantly and blew a stray strand of hair from her eyes, scowling at the Doctor. To his credit, the Doctor took her attitude quite well.

"Oh no, little miss Delmas, no games here. Though come to think of it, making the lesson a game might make it more fun. But no, I'm afraid games are part of _tomorrow's_ lesson. If you'd like a demonstration, then…" The man pointed his sonic screwdriver over at Herb and clicked down the trigger. Immediately the little device shone with a little dull green light, and a high-pitched humming sound resonated throughout the class. In less than a second, the glasses he had tossed on over to Herb shattered into a million little pieces, yet none cut him. Instead, the fragments fell to the top of Herb's desk, harmlessly. The entire class stared in amazement.

"Voila!" he exclaimed, lifting his arms up once more, to some small applause. Herb frowned, wiping the little pieces of glass from his desk. Sissi, while impressed and shocked as everyone else, felt some inexplicable need to dig herself further in.

"Well… That still doesn't explain how it's a screwdriver!" she half-shouted, turning her head in defiance, with a slight crinkle in her nose.

"Alright," the Doctor resigned, pointing his screwdriver toward Sissi instead. "But you asked for it."

He clicked the button once more, and Sissi turned her attention toward the substitute teacher, confused. Suddenly, her chair collapsed beneath her weight. The legs just fell off without any rhyme or reason, and she hit the ground with a thud and a small, "Eep!" The class stared at this new development with mixed feelings. Nicholas and Herb bent down to help the young girl up, though she fought off their kindness in her own frustration. The silence of the classroom was broken by Odd's manic laughter, who, in his own hysterics, fell onto the floor himself, and pounding at the floor as he busted a gut.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Chill out, Odd!" Jeremie scolded, turning backward in his chair. Odd recovered, breathing heavily and occasionally still letting another laugh slip out. He crawled up back into his chair.

"Heh. Sorry 'bout that." Odd closed his eyes and rested his arms on the back of his head, giving that big Cheshire smile he was known for. Sissi scowled at the boy, completely enraged. However, there was one other in the room she was far more pissed at, and she turned her attention toward the Doctor, who was in the act of placing his sonic screwdriver back into his inside jacket pocket. With a slightly oblivious smile, he grabbed his own chair, a more comfortable, cushiony swivel chair with wheels, and skipped over to Sissi's desk with it.

"Here you go, a little peace offering. It's the least I can do. And you get extra credit today, Miss Delmas. How does that sound?" Without waiting for the young girl's reaction, he grabbed the deconstructed pieces of her chair and set them up on his desk for the entire class to see, leaving Sissi open mouthed. After a moment of pondering, she grumbled and sat down in her new seat. Her anger gave way to thoughts about just how appropriate it was for her to get the best chair in the class, and how it should happen more often.

"Now then, class," the Doctor started, waving his hand over the pieces of the chair. "Can anybody tell me what I did to murder this chair?"

Jeremie's and Herb's hands went up. The Doctor looked between the two children for a moment, tapping his chin with one hand and drumming his fingers on the desk with the other. Ultimately, he pointed at Jeremie.

"Yes, you. Go ahead."

"Well, to be perfectly frank, Doctor," Jeremie started, adjusting his glasses. "It would appear that you generated a precise, concentrated vibration field to loosen the screws in Sissi's chair. However, such to create such an effect would require either a set of extremely specific pre-set conditions, or alternatively a telepathic connection with the sound waves through the device itself."

"Yeah, and those aren't the only screws Sissi has loose! Hahahahaha!" Odd pointed to his side at the young girl, getting in another laugh at her expense. He was interrupted by a familiar humming sound, only for his own chair to collapse beneath him. The students looked between Odd's crumpled heap and the Doctor, who had taken out his screwdriver once more.

"Now now, we all enjoy a good deal of fun, but let's try not to make it at the expense of others, right? This is still a classroom, after all. Don't let the fact that I'm the 'cool' teacher trick you into behaving poorly." Odd chuckled, taking it all really well. He stood up, brushed himself off, and nodded at the Doctor with a smile. Snagging an unused chair at a nearby desk, Odd sat down once again. The Doctor turned his gaze back to Jeremie, looking upon him with an impressed smile.

"Veeeery impressive, Mr. Glasses. You are perfectly accurate, in every regard. What's your name?"

"Belpois, sir. Jeremie Belpois." Herb looked at Jeremie with a hint of jealousy and disdain.

"Well Mr. Belpois, you are, dare I say, very clever. And believe me, I know clever when I see it."

"Thank you, Doctor. I try my best."

"Yeah, that's our Jeremie," Odd chimed in, leaning back in his new chair. "There's a reason I call him Einstein, y'know. But do you think there's a way you can explain what you did, you know, so the rest of us underachievers can understand it? I really didn't follow any of that, not one bit."

"Of course, no problem tiny boy," the Doctor began, before he was interrupted by Odd.

"Hey! I'm not small! I'm svelte." He crossed his arms and sulked, while Ulrich and Aelita laughed. "And the name's Odd! Don't you forget it!"

"Odd? How… Strangely appropriate. Ha! You thought I was going to say, how 'oddly' appropriate, didn't you? Ahem. Anyway, yes. Sonic resonation. Think of it like an invisible hand, only it's absolutely nothing of the sort, that I work with my mind. It vibrates the molecules in just such a way to create an effect I desire. That makes this sonic screwdriver something of the ultimate tool. Never leave home without it."

The Doctor then pointed his sonic screwdriver at each of the students, then clicked down on the switch in tandem. The kids almost all yelped and took cover, yet nothing seemed to happen as the Doctor alternated the target of the light generating, high-pitched humming device. Once again, the Lyoko Warriors felt like, perhaps, he was lingering over them just a bit longer than everyone else.

With a flick of the wrist, the substitute teacher brought the device up to his own gaze. Four metallic notches over the green light opened up, stretching out as he inspected the instrument closely. The man mumbled something to himself, but was so quiet about it that none of the class could even remotely hear him.

"Excuse me, Doctor?" Aelita interjected, pulling the man from his concentration. Shaking his head, he closed up the sonic screwdriver and placed it away, hidden beneath his jacket.

"Yes, miss…?"

"Aelita Stone," she answered. "Are you going to continue the lesson?"

"As a matter of fact, no, I am not continuing the lesson, Miss Stone," the doctor responded quickly, without thought or hesitation. "Because you are all going to do that for me. First classwork assignment, everyone! I would like you all to begin work on a paper detailing as many potential uses for a sonic screwdriver as you can imagine. Don't be afraid to get creative, children, this is a fun assignment! Turn it in whenever you're finished, even if it takes you more than the rest of today to finish. Right? Haaaave at it, then!"

A bit baffled, the students began writing their papers. The previously loud and lively classroom had suddenly become so quiet, all one could hear was the scratching of pens and pencils against paper. It had seemed, for probably the first time in his life, Odd was taking an active interest in a non-art related assignment, scribbling away at a far greater pace than any of his peers. Ulrich and Aelita were working at a much slower pace than they usually would (though Aelita was easily still getting more done than her friend), and while Jeremie worked diligently as always, his mind was still hampered in the same way that Ulrich's and Aelita's were. All three of them could not stop obsessing over this new mysterious substitute teacher, this Doctor John smith. There was something undoubtedly strange, and what was up with that device he had? It was unlike anything they'd ever seen before! Could he possibly be an agent of X.A.N.A.? The possibility seemed unlikely, since the Doctor didn't fit into their enemy's M.O., which was usually just wanton destruction or attempted murder. Still, with the exception of Odd, they all felt that something was up with this guy, and almost as if psychically, they knew they'd all agree to check this guy out further.

By the end of the class period, the majority of the students had turned in their papers. Only Aelita, Jeremie, and Herb seemed to still have more work to do. Out of all the papers turned in, however, Odd's was by far the largest, encompassing three pages front and back, written with absolutely tiny print. The smallest paper was the one written by Nicholas, in which he listed the potential uses as breaking glasses, unscrewing screws, helping with fishing (which he failed to elaborate on), and making totally awesome drum beats.

The bell rang, signaling the end of the period, and so all the students rose up from their seats and began to head off to their next classes. As they passed through the door, Odd was the first to speak.

"Oh man, that was the best class ever~!" he sang, pumping his fist in the air. "Our new science teacher is awesome, don't you think? I mean, the only problem I can see he has is his unstylish dressing, but I can totally fix that. What do you guys say?"

"He's trouble. We need to look into him," Ulrich stated plainly, frowning. Odd nearly tripped from the shock.

"What are you talking about, Ulrich? You're crazy! Come on Einstein, don't tell me you agree with Mr. Sour-Pants here, do ya?" Jeremie looked down and shook his head before refocusing on Odd. He spoke to his friend in an informative tone.

"Sorry Odd, but I agree."

"So do I," Aelita cut in. "He seems fun and quirky, but we need to look at the facts, Odd. He possesses technology that shouldn't be possible, even by X.A.N.A.'s standards. Ms. Hertz wins a surprise vacation at extreme short notice and he just happens to stand in at the last second? Plus, you saw how he was looking at us. There's something definitely not right with Doctor John Smith."

"Ah man," Odd whined, letting his shoulders down. He knew his friends were right, but man that sucked. "Ok, so what's the plan? What are we going to do?"

"Well first thing I think we should do is tell Yumi about this," Ulrich threw out. Even as he spoke, he pulled out his mobile phone and began typing in the characters for a text message.

"That's a good idea," Aelita added. "Anyway, I think one of us should follow him, see what he's up to outside of his really strange classes."

"I agree," Jeremie started. "I nominate Odd."

"What? Why me, Einstein?!" Odd shouted, attracting a few stares from passing students, but nobody stayed long enough to hear the rest of their conversation.

"Yeah, why Odd? I mean, he's pretty conspicuous, don't you think?" Ulrich explained.

"Hey!" Odd objected, feeling a bit offended. Ulrich continued on, ignoring Odd's attempted interjection.

"I mean, he's loud, colorful, and his feet smell." Ulrich lifted a finger during each of the traits he listed.

"Hey!"

"That may be true," Jeremie began with his own explanation. "But Odd is sm-… Svelte, and acrobatic, not to mention he's the best of us when it comes to thinking on his feet. Also, he'll probably volunteer just to prove you wr-"

"Stop ignoring me, guys! Yeesh, I can't believe you're so insensitive, Ulrich, and to your own best buddy too. Tell you what, I'll do it just so I can rub your face in it and then you'll have to admit that I'm Odd Della Robbia, ninja extraordinaire. You got that?" Odd gave a wink to his roommate and pointing with both fingers in a gun shape.

"Well then it's settled. Make us proud, Odd." Jeremie pat his friend on the back and began walking off, with Aelita following suit. "I've got to get to math, see you guys later!"

"Take care, Ulrich. See you, 'super ninja,'" Aelita joked, waving back at her friends.

Ulrich and Odd were left to their own devices. Each one had a free period to spend as they wished, but it was usually spent keeping an eye out for attacks by X.A.N.A. Even on their lax days, they rarely got to have any real fun or relaxation with it. Being a Lyoko Warrior was a twenty-four hour duty, unfortunately.

"So now what, Ulrich?" Odd asked, leaning up against the wall. "Want to head back to our room and play some Samurai Warrior Conquest 7 with me?"

"Naw," Ulrich shook his head. "I asked Yumi to meet me in the lounge room. I'm going to tell her about our new, er, mission. It looks like you've got your work cut out for you, too."

Ulrich pointed and Odd immediately saw what he was talking about. The Doctor was leaving the science lab, locking it up behind him. The strange man was humming something to himself as he turned round and began heading down the hallway in the opposite direction of the duo, a bit of a hop to his step. Odd narrowed his eyes and Ulrich went off himself. Oh yeah, it was game time…


End file.
